PruLife offers wide array of VULs

MANILA, Philippines - As the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) continues to regulate access to the special deposit accounts (SDA) to trust accounts and unit investment trust funds (UITF), Filipino retail investors are looking at other venues to park their funds that would afford them the same level of potential gains while providing a safe depository for savings.

British insurer and investment-linked life insurance pioneer. Pru Life UK offers secure wealth management alternatives with its unit-linked product portfolio. Unit-linked life insurance is a two-in-one product that provides living and death benefits while premiums are ‘linked’ to investment funds, enabling not only financial protection but also wealth accumulation.

Pru Life UK president and chief executive officer Antonio Manuel De Rosas said Filipinos are becoming more sophisticated in their financial planning, opening more opportunities to offer products that make wealth management more successful.

De Rosas said through Pru Life’s unit-linked portfolio, consumers protect their most valuable asset – themselves – while also gaining access to a superior selection of investment funds that would allow them to potentially grow the premiums they invest.

“Our funds are managed by one of the best in the region, by our sister company Eastspring Investments (Singapore) Ltd.” he added.

PruMillionaire, the elite unit-linked life insurance product, is a single-premium unit-linked life insurance product that maximizes the value of investment through a significantly lower upfront charge of 0.5 percent and Pru Life UK’s selection of investment funds.

With a minimum premium of P1 million or $20,000, PruMillionaire provides protection coverage equal to 125 percent of the single premium or the fund value, whichever is higher.

It is the first single-pay guaranteed issue, unit-linked life insurance product  that provides life insurance coverage even during the first two years in which the policy is in force.

The guaranteed insurability option (GIO) allows hassle-free sign-up with no health underwriting and health declaration at the time of application.

Four free fund switches per year also allow clients flexibility as their investment objectives and risk profile change.

Unit-linked policyholders have the freedom to choose where to invest a portion of their premium payment from Pru Life UK’s funds.

PruLink Equity Fund invests in shares of stock in the local stock market while PruLink Growth Fund predominantly invests in shares of stocks with a minimum investment in fixed income securities and money market instruments.

PruLink ProActive Fund highlights dynamic allocation by fund managers through investment in fixed income securities, money market instruments and shares of stocks, while PruLink Managed Fund (invests predominantly in fixed income with minimum investment in shares of stocks).

Meanwhile, PruLink Peso Bond Fund (invests in local bonds and money market instruments); PruLink Dollar Bond Fund (invests in US dollar fixed income securities issued by the Philippine government, Filipino corporates and international entities); PruLink Money Market Fund (invests in bank deposits and money market instruments); PruLink Asian Local Bond Fund, (feeder fund that invests offshore in the Eastspring Investments – Asian Local Bond Fund); and the PruLink Asia Pacific Equity Fund (feeder fund that invests offshore in the Eastspring Investments – Asia Pacific Equity Fund).

Pru Life UK’s fund management company, Eastspring Investments Ltd. has been named the largest Retail Fund Manager in Asia (ex-Japan, Australia and New Zealand) (“region”) for the second straight year in the annual Asia Asset Management Fund Manager Survey 2013, with over $51 billion of retail assets sourced in the region as of June 2013.

Also part of the global Prudential Group, Eastspring Investments has been managing Pru Life UK’s underlying funds for its unit-linked or investment-linked product portfolio since the company pioneered the PruLink product line in 2002.